Carrie Underwood Hits The Gym, Big Js Get Excited Over 40-Times & Ric Flair Is Deputized
This is a big weekend in the evolution of Screencaps
I'm officially headed back out on the road this afternoon for a quick weekend trip to Charlotte to check out the new MLS setup at Bank of America Stadium where Panthers owner David Tepper's Charlotte FC will begin playing in an updated soccer stadium that will make its debut Saturday night.
It's one of those trips where a marketing agency shoots an email saying they want you to make the trip, so I tell the wife I'm headed back out on the road. She's used to it by now.
Why is this a big one? It's the first one since COVID started. The 'VID came to town and brands hunkered down with the junket scene.
So now the faucet has been turned back on.
What's my objective with this trip? I come at this from a Screencaps perspective. I want to report back to you guys on stadium atmosphere, what to expect from the food, the suites and the little things like beer selections. Do they serve nachos at soccer matches? I've never been to a professional soccer match. This is all new to me.
So Charlotte FC brings me in, I take mental notes/iPhone photos and I give you a full report. This isn't about me being a fan of, or not being a fan of soccer. Truth be told, I didn't know Charlotte had a MLS team. My job is to jump on that plane to give the dads, and the cool post-grads with old(er) souls, out there some intel on what they can expect if they start thinking about making a trip into downtown Charlotte for a match...from a Screencaps perspective.
Now, I have very limited time in downtown Charlotte to explore. I'm staying at the Marriott next door to Hooters. Are there any bars close by that I need to hit for a drink this evening? Again, I'm not looking to venture too far because I'm there to give perspective on what a fan traveling into town can expect on a Charlotte FC match weekend.
If you guys don't respond, I'm asking the people working the front desk. Fire away.
And if you own a company -- or maybe you're in the marketing department -- that could use some Screencaps publicity, fire away at the inbox. Let's start a conversation. I'm all ears.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com
On my 5-year-old perking up over the first 20 seconds of Ozzy's classic, "Crazy Train"
There I was Thursday in my wife's minivan -- she needed gas in the wagon & I like to treat her right -- with my 5-year-old son when "Crazy Train" comes on and he starts getting all excited saying he knows that song. Being the cool dad -- in my wife's minivan -- I give him a little volume and ask how he knows about Ozzy's classic.
"That's a song from Roblox," he says.
Dammit, I should have known it. Here I was thinking Will was diving head first into the classics on YouTube while I wasn't paying attention.
Well, at least the seed has been planted. Now I need to see what he thinks of Alice in Chains, the Chris Cornell collection, Screaming Trees, Smashing Pumpkins live at the Metro 1993, etc. from Dad's glory days.
On coaching youth sports:
Joe,
Welcome to the coaching ranks. It’s one of the most important and rewarding things I have ever endeavored as a dad. I can be confident when I say, I was mediocre at best, some good, some bad, but had a blast looking back at it.
I was a Division I athlete (soccer at Villanova) and I have two sons 26 and 20. My oldest son played 4 years of Division III football at Williams College in Massachusetts, one of the finest liberal arts colleges in the country. My youngest is a walk-on for the Division I Wake Forest Demon Deacon basketball team who are bringing hoops excitement back to Wake Forest. They both played multiple sports growing up in Philadelphia, Santa Monica, and Winston-Salem.
As a parent who has played, coached, and has been around sports my whole life, I can identify with the challenge of coaching kids. Sports, to me, is a game. A game that gives you every chance to be great, and puts every pressure on you to prove that you haven't got what it takes, on and off the field. It never takes away the chance, parents and coaches do. As a coach or administrator, you have the ability every game to put each player in that same opportunity.
One of the great things about playing sports is accountability – there is no hiding when you miss a block or overthrow first – you have to take responsibility for actions that don’t turn out well, just as you accept praise for the ones that succeed.
My wife and I are lucky, our kids are decent athletes, but more importantly, they are great people. They have been cut, they have been yelled at, they have sat the bench. I’m demanding, but they know they are loved. They are also respectful, kind, hardworking, and cheer their teammates on.
It hurts to let your child fail and learn as you watch from afar, but the reward is watching your child grow, mature, and become great all on their own. Parents involved in youth sports, all, at some point lose their minds. Try to remember that as you navigate the ranks. Good luck.
• Brandon C. is back with more advice for the dads out there venturing into the coaching ranks:
* Anything less than 12U, you need to have no more than 3 activity days a week. 1 game, 2 practices; 2 games 1 practice; etc. Burn out will happen (for you as much as the kids) if you go over that.
* Keep everything as simple as possible. I've developed a coaching system where each of the five main baseball skills (hitting, throwing, fielding grounders, fielding airballs, pitching) can be broken down into 3 parts (footwork, form, finish).. you drill those three parts in station drills with small groups and you'll be amazed at the development over the season.
Make sure whatever system you decide on (and yes, you need a system, but not one of those $79.99 video endorsed by Wade Boggs systems), you have all your ass't coaches on-board with consistent terminology and way you teach it.
You start talking arm angles and release points and stride length, you'll lose them. Happy to send you some slide decks I made to get you started. It's all about repetition in the early season and then building into more advanced team stuff later on. Don't even think about doing things like full infields until mid-season. Work on the fundamentals of catching ground balls and throwing to the closest base in small drills. No more than 3-4 kids per group and keep them moving (ex, have kids at 2B fielding grd balls and throwing to 1B.
Then kid who fielded goes to 1B, 1B goes to catch balls for you, kid that caught for you goes to end of 2B line). Trying to work on throws from 3B to 1B with practice time is idiotic in less than 12U league since it's all about arm strength, and the kid is either going to be able to do it, or not. Focus on being able to catch the ball and then field it cleanly and touch the closest base for a force out.
Your happiest joy as a coach will be to see that kid who's been struggling all year to finally field a ball clean and make a force out because you worked with him to know where to go with the ball before its hit and he does it. Celebrate those little victories as much as the kid who hits dingers or strikes out the side.
* Final note, if you're under 12U, have everyone practice pitching and everyone needs to pitch at least a inning multiple times during the season. You can find your best pitchers and have them throw every other game, but you need to mix in other kids, even if they get smoked. It's all about learning the game. Keep emphasizing that the goal isn't to win the first games, it's to get better so that you keep getting better each week.
• Mark W. writes:
Good luck with coaching your boys. It can be a very rewarding experience; it can also be emotionally draining because of the stuff outside the lines. My son played youth hockey and I agree with Eric G.- hockey parents are the worst.
Two images for you. Have the shirts made up for the parents. The other is a fun perspective.
On the CDC and its bizarre advice
• John S. follows up on the government advising people to social distance in bomb shelters with the CDC's advice on hurican preparedness:
Clay mentioned yesterday the ridiculousness of our government adding COVID precautions to the guidelines for dealing with a nuclear explosion/attack.
Last Summer the CDC added getting a COVID "vaccine"(it's not a vaccine) to the guidance for preparing for a Hurricane. (see attached)
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Ahh yes, before you get your emergency supplies so you can get the hell out of Dodge, make sure to get vaxxed. It's easy to see how some CDC communications team member was ordered to update the organization's word processing document and was like, 'This looks like a great spot to put the cursor and enter this COVID advice.' BOOM, put it before 'Prepare to evacuate.'
Thankfully, this era is nearly behind us. Now let us get on a plane without a mask, if we wish.
On being a bad golfer and mixing up the terminology
• Grant H., our resident northwestern North Dakota farmer, writes:
I'd like to clear the air with Reid S. He is absolutely right about the difference between between chip-shots, pitch-shots, and shot-shots. My verbiage was incorrect and it won't happen again.
I do want to clarify one thing though, he doesn't know my game. I'm nowhere near a 30 handicap, MUCH closer to a 20 than a 30!
Love the screencaps community keeping each other in check. Cheers everyone, enjoy every day, and have fun with the back and forth! That's what we're all here for!
On bizarre IVF options people have come up with
• Tuesday or Wednesday I wrote about the wife who is furious with her husband for suggesting he impregnate her sister the "traditional" way who could act as the surrogate versus going through expensive IVF treatment.
Chris B. fired off a story from his memory bank:
Hi, Joe — Long ago, when we lived disturbingly close to the Ozarks, some friends were having trouble conceiving. The wife’s womb was apparently a rocky place upon which the husband’s seed could find no purchase (cf. Raising Arizona), so the husband’s mother offered to use her eggs and carry the baby.
Not the wife’s mother, not the wife’s sister, but the husband’s mother. Fortunately, the wife had taken Genetics 101 and declined the generous, if creepy, offer.
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It's absolutely stunning the content people come up with, but I'm here for it because it keeps me fueled to keep going. Some people need their next drink. I need my next piece of content.
And with that, I'm headed out to the airport to get the weekend rolling in Charlotte. It's supposed to be 72 and sunny tomorrow. I'll take it.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com